Hi, I’m Barbara. I’m a mostly-work-from-home analyst who spends her days buried in data and her weekends increasingly back where she belongs — outside.
I grew up loving the woods. Water features, towering trees, the kind of quiet that only exists when you’re far enough from everything. Then life happened, and somewhere between graduating high school and becoming a functioning adult, I took a fifteen-year detour indoors. I’ve spent the last fifteen years hunting with a club, which helped scratch the itch — but it’s not the same as strapping on a pack and going somewhere most people will never see. With no kids at home and a schedule that’s finally mine again — what the heck do I do with it? Turns out I have a lot of catching up to do.
Four day hikes in Shenandoah later, I decided to register for a 35-mile section of the John Muir Trail. In August. With a backpack I’d never used.
I never said my decision-making was conservative.
Late To The Trail is the real-time documentation of what happens next — the gear, the food (I make my own freeze-dried meals and I’m not sorry about it), the training, the mistakes, and the moments that make you stop walking and just look. I’m constantly in awe of what God made out here and grateful that He gives me the opportunities to experience it. That never gets old.
I live in Virginia with my husband and two very opinionated dogs. Come along for the chaos.